Before the main event, a mention for my current read. WEE ROCKETS by the excellent GERARD BRENNAN is a real joyride of a book. It's published by BLASTED HEATH and it's free today, so I'd get over there and get a copy if I were you. You won't regret it, I promise.
I loved DEADFOLK, the story of Royston Blake’s adventures in
the town of Mangle. I loved it so much
that I didn’t’ feel able to move on to BOOZE AND BURN for fear it might just
not do Blake justice. Now I’ve been
there, I realise I needn’t have worried.
All I’ve been doing is wasting time.
The other issue that can spoil a follow-up book is the
over-doing of the references to the previous work. Charlie Williams kicked that one in to touch
early on as Blake addresses the reader and says of Deadfolk:
‘You what? Forget it
pal. I ain’t telling you that story no
more. I’ve told it enough times already –
especially to the cops and I’m sick of it.
You want to know about the guns and chainsaws, go ask someone else. Everyone knows around here.'
Perfectly handled.
In Royston Blake, I reckon we have the world’s finest
unreliable, first-person narrator. He’s
a warts-and-all story-teller who’s neither afraid to embellish or to cut
himself to the quick (then again, Royston’s not afraid of anything).
He’s back on the door at Mangles’ premier drinking
establishment (Hoppers), throwing his increasing weight around as only he
can. It doesn’t take long for the new
equilibrium of Mangle to be disturbed when a new face arrives in town. Not only is the guy an outsider, he’s soon to
become the owner of Hoppers and the
supplier of a new kind of sweet/drug to the young of the town.
One of the gang of young is Mona. She’s had a personality change since being
introduced to the new drug and she’s fallen for the supplier. Mona’s father, Doug, employs Blake’s services
to sort out the guy, which is the point at which the story explodes.
I’m so impressed by Charlie Williams. He’s created an even more special book in
Booze And Burn than he managed in Deadfolk.
Blake’s character is even sharper as are those of the others
in the cast. Blake’s a real rogue – the cleanest
term I can think of to make sure this doesn’t offend the Amazon boards – but he’s
immensely loveable with it, for reasons I don’t entirely understand. Many was the time I wanted to put my arm
around the guy (metaphorically, of course, as my arms would need to be twice as
long to do the job) and have a whisper in his ear – “You don’t want to be doing
that, Blake.” Or “Why don’t you try saying it this way instead?” Not that he’d listen.
The plot here is developed and a perfect pace. It becomes fairly complex, but is always easy
to stay with. There are plenty of
cliff-hangers to keep a reader interested. The turns of phrase are superb and
Williams is a master of the simile – “[I]wanted nothing more than the comfort
of clean sheets and a firm mattress, though...the mattress were about fifty year
old and as firm as an old man’s tadger.”
Blake’s is also a master when it comes to shoving his boots
into his own mouth. Here, he’s trying to
make his recently attacked girlfriend feel better about some damage to her face
– “ ‘Reckon you won’t be doin’ much more strippin’, I says, giving her a
friendly smile. ‘Less you wears a paper bag.” ‘
All in all, Booze And Burn shines a light onto things we
might rather not see, then throws in a magnifying glass to make the focus more
unpleasantly clear. Britain at its worst
can have a defensive, island mentality, compounded by small-town attitudes,
brutally sharp tongues and minds narrower than barges.
For me, the book takes the Ghost Town of The Specials, the
darkness of the Thatcher years, the cultural highs of Clint Eastwood and Minder
and uses the energy to create the most wonderful set of characters
imaginable. Blake would have no problem
wrestling any Spitting Image character to the ground, knocking the hardest from
Viz to the ground, out-seducing Lady Chatterley's lover or drinking Homer Simpson under a table. It’s funny, powerful, clever, brutal and a
total joy from opening to close.
Royston Blake – Cheers.
No comments:
Post a Comment